Anytime a city agency has to pay out like this it really is tax payer money paid out. The only loss are too taxpayers.

Meh, Potter's irrelevant.

What's frustrating is, the city could have prevented this waste earlier by managing Besner's behavior.

Our true condolences for the family, friends, and neighbors of Ray Gwerder. Our hope is this settlement can in part bring some resolution to this tragic event for them.

But another innocent man died a brutal death at the hands of an officer who remains certified by the state, and both employed and endorsed by the city. Mr. Gwerder's death, like so many others, reveals the inability of the Portland Police Bureau to be accountable outside of a courtroom when their actions cause harm. This unaccountability erodes trust and honesty - which in the short and long run costs more than all the cash settlements to date.

Board members of the Mental Health Association of Portland

I feel safer knowing that, as a safety measure, Portland Police will generally tase suspects once they have been killed (they also tased James Jahar-Perez - who was unarmed - for 3 solid minutes after killing him). That keeps these dead people from harming anyone else, and gives the officers some time to get their stories straight.

Dink Dong! What time is it Tom Potter?

It's time to fire Leo Besner's ghoulish
trigger-happy ass. While you're at it,
why not have this "brave PoPiggy" help
pay this rightfully awarded damage suit?

Tom, it's your stupid refusal to see the
type of people employed at PoPiggy Shop
and your unrelenting support of them is
why so many of us here hate your guts
and will be glad when your ass is gone!

I'm having a hard time, personally, accepting this story. I think I need to go write about how cute kittens are for a few days and then come back to it. Seriously: what are we to make of the facts of this story, other than that the city has blood on its hands?

It makes me furious. It's hard to maintain composure. It's hard to think straight. Disgusting.

Now let's see if the city will do anything about disciplining Besner.

Besner has a long, long track record of excessive force, including being involved in two cases from spring 2003 that also settled (the false arrest and pepper-spraying of Bill Ellis during an anti-war protest and the false arrest of a teenage girl waiting for a bus), as well as arresting minister Brent Was on SE Belmont during a protest for alleged jaywalking (that settled very quickly for a small amount of money).

I have little faith that Mayor Potter or any of the police disciplinary commissions will do anything about Besner. Perhaps an appeal to DPSST to revoke Besner's law enforcement credentials is in order, just like they're trying to do to Bernie Giusto?

Killing a man by shooting him in the back without permission doesn't qualify for revoking a DPSST license, sadly.

Although lying does. If someone had proof.

Leo Besner has long been suspected of
being a leading member of PoPo's local
chapter of the Brotherhood of the Strong
and in intimidating other cops that may
challenge his sense of power. He is
reputed to be the worst "control freak"
PoPo has and his employment has proven
to be a most costly mistake. What will
it take for dumbass Rosie and Spacy Tom
to figure it out that enough is enough
of this creepy character and then do
the sane thing...fire his ass forthwith
and refuse to listen to Robert King's
silly blathing defense of him!

No proof to any of that last post, and as far as I'm aware, not even any rumors to support it.

Matt,

A while back you said you were going to the PPB's Citizen Academy. Just wondering if you ever went? You haven't mentioned anything about it. You could probably learn a lot there.

I've been going for the last seven weeks and am yet to miss a single session. Watch this space.

Give Leo a medal for killing the gunwielding suicidal guy. "Propensity towards violence", give me a break, he's on the SWAT team which means he's SUPPOSED to take the shots. What a bunch of bleeding heart pukes. Fuck all of you!

This guy needs his gun taken away.
And I think the previous poster might need a little nap.

I knew it was only a matter of time before asswipe Robert King chimed in with his usual display of callous idiocy and sure enough...

Let's see, blame the victim? Check.

Defend officer with terrible track record? Check.

Lie? Check.

Act like a douchebag fucking moron? Check.

is "Leo Fan" Robert King's new screen name of
convenience? Have you noticed how he is the
arch-defender of killer-cops and this may well
be because he too is a killer-cop, having done
the awful deed some 15 years ago when he was a
mere rookie cop. Killed a mere child under
very suspect circumstances and generated a lot
of controversy at that time. Ever since he has
made it a career to defend himself and his very
dark side by being most quick-to-the-defense of
any fellow cop who kills. With such a history
and all the psychological implications, one
wonders who King is defending? Is he really
defending the killer-cop of the moment or is
he still defending the blood on his own hands
that won't ever wash away no matter how hard
he tries or how much blather he spits forth
to say "hey, I'm really a good guy afterall
and I'm a "professional", blah, blah, blah...

Serve as a SWAT sniper, get injected into situations where you will have to make life and death decisions more than others on the force, take out a guy with a gun with the intent to protect others in the area, get screwed over by your agency and see $500K paid out. Great way to treat a good man having to make the hardest decisions. Quit pissing on your police officers Portland!!!

Rather than come here and piss 'n' moan as
to "how difficult" your job is, please do
not forget that you have the option to do
such a job or not. If you choose to kill
your fellow man, then be prepared to have
your deed questioned and you being pissed
on by an outraged public. You are not God
and you'd do well to recall His command to
all humans...THOU SHALT NOT KILL. The fact
that you willingly choose to make yourself
a "god" and act as such, is then reason
enough for an outraged citizenry to hold
you in contempt and vilify you as person
unworthy of our collective respect. It
do sound to me like it's time for YOU to
find yourself another job...

Actually I would prefer there were NO POLICE or POLICE AGENCIES and we could all be self policed. Then when some fuckstick tries to steal my car, or when my mail and identity are stolen I can take care of the problem myself. All you bleeding hearts can take in the poor and downtrodden meth addicts and mother them to your hearts content.

When your wife, mother or child is raped, you can turn the other cheek and forgive the piece of shit and give him another chance.

That's right..."FUCK THE POLICE!"

Although the city loves to sweep its dirty business under the rug they could not quite do it with this case. What kind of Yellow scumbag shoots someone in the back? A dirty Portland Cop. Nothing but a thug with a gun and a badge.

Although the city loves to sweep its dirty business under the rug they could not quite do it with this case. What kind of Yellow scumbag shoots someone in the back? A dirty Portland Cop. Nothing but a thug with a gun and a badge.

Leo Fan, made me laugh. The minority that like to bitch about the police on these sites have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. They're just all anti-authority. Mama didn't spank em enough or something.

Go out and learn what the police do, get the facts before bitching about everything, and realize that our/my job as a cop can be nasty. Frankly, I know the facts in Leo's shooting and I would have pulled the trigger also. Wouldn't have been happy about it, but given the circumstances that day I'd be in the same boat as Leo. Stop personally attacking Leo, he did his job.

Go out and learn what the police do

What, you mean like the cowardly way they sat on their fat, donut stuffed asses while kids were slaughtered at Columbine? Or taser an 82 year-old women? Or shooting a 90 year-old woman in her home during a mistaken drug raid based on the notoriously unreliable evidence of a raving lunatic racist? Or raiding a WWII veteran's poker-party (way to go after those old people, you pansies) or... the list goes on and on. The cops aren't brave at all - they let a guy who was shot in the fucking back lie there and die in a pool of his own blood (while tasering him!?! - are they really such sick fucks?) because they're too fucking afraid to approach even after all that? Where is a single expample of bravery?? All they do is go after easy targets like raiding some stoner's house for growing some pot (wow, that must be dangerous!), the aforementioned old people, or they hide behind their cars and watch incapacitated people (do to their trigger-happy asses) lie there and die with no medical treatment. You don't even treat a deer that badly when hunting - what a sick joke the police have become. They should be ashamed, but something tells me they know no shame. Further, they should be held to a HIGHER standard of conduct given their power to kill yet time after time, the boot-licking public and media only wants to fawn all over the cowardly police no matter how bad their conduct is. How any of them involved can look themselves in the mirror after letting some poor depressed guy that only needed help (and the help you gave him was a bullet in the back) die a horrible, unnecessary death is beyond me. With such great power comes great responsibility to use it wisely and with restraint - there was NO REASON to shoot the guy while he's on the phone with their own negotiator. These cops are just a bunch of fucking thugs drunk on their own power. Makes me sick.

I would have pulled the trigger also.

Oh really? While he's on the phone with your own negotiator? In the back!? You know, the fact that you would shoot doesn't surprise me - but that is the very problem with police in general - too quick to resort to unnecessary force(I've read some of your police message boards and frankly, they're scary), yet unwilling to use it when it is necessary like at Columbine (because in reality cops are not brave at all - only against the unarmed). The fact is people with your attitude shouldn't be on the force at all, yet I'm sure you're a typical example of a cop, which says a lot about the routine nature of problems like mistaken drug raids, police brutality, or bothering people in silly raids on things like poker games where nobody is being bothered, and lying to cover up for each other.

If you're really a cop, I'd bet my life that you know of at least one case (and probably a lot more) where one of your fellow cops had to lie to get the result you all "knew" was the right one (whether that meant lying about evidence found, or the circumstances leading to a stop or an arrest, or lying during an investigation into another cop, or in affidavits and testimony for criminal cases, all to make sure the "bad guy" goes away and cops are protected). The end's justify the means for far too many of you and you damn well know it. But shooting a guy in the back that was not threatening anyone but himself (and saying he was is just another case of lying er... spinning the facts to support your fellow officers) is just flat wrong. Tasering him and letting him lie there and die because you're too afraid to approach and get him medical help is beyond wrong - it's just sick, disgusting and inhuman.

I'm embarrassed to say I used to be one of those people who always supported the cops. But because of the endless list of cases where police never face consequences for their thuggish behavior I have very little, if any, respect left for them. They are no more than a necessary evil now and the fawning deference taught in the past needs to be replaced by a healthy skepticism about anything they say now.

Frankly, I know the facts in Leo's shooting and I would have pulled the trigger also.

Oh, and what "facts" do you know? Here are some facts for you from your own officers from the investigation:

The sniper, Officer Leo Besner, later told investigators that he saw Gwerder appear to aim his gun as if "hunting" for something. He said he feared that if Gwerder went inside the triplex, he'd harm a mother and her two children in an adjoining unit. Yet several SERT supervisors told investigators later that they would have preferred having Gwerder inside the home, rather than outside where officers could be his target.

So the SERT supervisors wanted him in the house, but Leo decides to blow him away so he doesn't go in the house - right there he should be fired at the very least for shooting without bothering to find out what his supervisors wanted the "suspect" to do.

Or, here is another fact for you:

East Precinct Cmdr. Mike Crebs, who was in charge of police operations that day, told investigators later, "The shot just came outta nowhere. . . . I thought we were talking to the guy."

So trigger-happy Leo again just blows the guy away as he's on the phone with police.

Or:

Crebs explained later that his goal was simple: "Get that guy out alive."

Loose cannon Leo didn't seem to care too much about that goal, since he didn't bother to know that his supervisors wanted the guy in the house.

And:

"Ray, hi. My name's Rae, too," started Klein, a trained hostage negotiator. "I'm with the Police Bureau. What's going on?"

Over the next 6 minutes and 50 seconds, the detective told Raymond Gwerder to put his gun down. She assured him police would not storm the house or hurt him. And, not knowing that Gwerder was in the backyard, Klein urged him to stay inside.

She got him talking about his pure-bred Collie. He told her the dog's name was Lillie, and she shed a lot. "Too much actually," he added.

Then he let out a loud guttural cry, as if someone socked him in the stomach.

A Portland police sniper had fired a shot from his .308-caliber rifle, striking Gwerder in the back as the man was about to go inside the triplex.

Detective Klein stayed on the line, calling Ray's name at least 10 times. But she got no response.

Of course she didn't because thanks to Leo the "Cowardly Lion" he was dying in a pool of his own blood, being tasered, and refused medical treatment.

So where are your "facts" mister cop? Perhaps you have some "facts" on why nobody tried to save him after he'd been shot?

If this tragic keystone cops mess is the best the Portland Police cad do with a depressed guy who needs medical help, I'd hate to see what the do in a really difficult situation. I'm afraid we'll get to find out someday.

The only remotely normal human feeling and sentiments I've seen come out of any of the police (as opposed to a we're always right circling of the wagons to defend each other at all costs) was this:

Crebs, in his interview with detectives, choked up. "You know, I didn't want to see it end like this."

It didn't have to.

There was simply no reason to shoot this guy in the back as he was merely going into his home (which the police wanted!). He was suicidal and had not threatened his neighbor whatsoever, so "loose cannon" Leo's bullshit explanation doesn't work, even if he hadn't acted in direct opposition to what his supervisors wanted.

Either "lucky-shot" Leo wanted to shoot this guy and just looked for the first opportunity where he felt he could plausibly argue it was for someone else's safety, or he is both incompetent for not knowing his supervisors goals and has piss-poor judgment for seeing a risk to the neighbor that simply wasn't there. Either way, this thug has no business being on the police force and should probably be in jail for at least negligent homicide.

And if you would have pulled the trigger too, against your supervisor's wishes (and against any sound judgment) you ought to rot in prison as well.

could it be that "cop" above is really Leo
Besner and he's hurt that his actions are
being questioned by a mere citizen? If so,
Leo, go find another job...many of us just
do not want the likes of your ass on the
PPB, whether Tom and Rosie want you or not
...we dont, so be gone Leo...get the fuck
off the force and find another job some-
where else!

thanks for the GREAT post! Very useful...